


Locked Out

by forestfairy72



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Rating May Change, Still with demons though, mainly fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9793793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestfairy72/pseuds/forestfairy72
Summary: At the end of a pretty crappy day Kagome arrives home to discover she is locked out and has forgotten her keys. This leads to her meeting her new neighbour, Inuyasha, which changes her world in ways she could not have expected.





	1. Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks! This is my first fic on AO3, I hope you like it! I am a bit rusty on the writing front so any and all criticism is accepted :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Inuyasha. All rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi

It was snowing. Of course it would be snowing. Kagome beat her fist against the front door to her complex. She had forgotten her keys and it had been a long time since the service button had worked, leaving her stranded outside. The December wind was making the flakes dance around in the air, which normally Kagome would appreciate and be mesmerised by. But this would be from her window, not outside. She looked at her watch, 4:45. It would be a few hours until her flatmate returned from work and the sky didn't look ready to clear any time soon. Normally she could just call Souta for her spare key but her phone had died earlier. 

 

Kagome was not having a good day.

 

Taking her comically large yellow backpack off she rubbed her shoulders. It was as heavy as it looked, filled with children's jotters to be marked amongst other things. With a heavy sigh Kagome hoped that someone would need to get into the building so she could at least warm up a little.  
By the time Kagome's watch read 5:30 she was really feeling the cold. Her hair was damp and full of snowflakes. She had resorted to star jumping to keep herself warm as the flakes melted into her coat. 

"What the hell are you doing?"

The voice came from above. There was a man hanging out of a fourth floor window looking part amused, part pissed off at the raven haired woman prancing about the courtyard. Kagome stopped dead in her tracks.

"Hey! I got locked out and it is freezing out here. Can you let me in please?" She shouted.

"What you get locked out for?" He was clearly taking the mick but it had been a long day. 

"I forgot my key." Kagome felt doubly stupid feeling the man's glee from four floors down. The guy was sat on his windowsill now, she could make out that he had long white hair and was wearing a red shirt and black jeans combo but couldn't see his face which made her feel slightly uneasy. Kagome guessed he must have moved in quite recently, she was pretty good at remembering where each of her neighbours stayed. Not that she was friends with everyone, more like she was a fan of people watching.

"What number are you in?"

"3D," She called back, "Why?"

"Well I'm not about to let you in without knowing if you actually live here. You could be a serial killer for all I know."

"I am a very cold serial killer. Let me in and I'll spare you?"

"Sure." The man chuckled above and disappeared from the window, leaving Kagome alone but feeling a surge of warmth.

 

A few moments later the door swung open and Kagome was greeted with a "Hey" from the owner of the voice. He looked a little rough around the edges, she now saw that he had amber eyes and his hair topped by dog ears which she tried not to stare at. He held the door open, claws lightly tapping his claws against the wood.

"So are you going to come in?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

"Uh, oh yeah, yes" Kagome grabbed her backpack and pushed the door so the man could let go, hoping she didn't appear as flustered as she felt. "Thanks for coming to get me."  
He replied with non-committal "Keh" and turned to head back up the stairs. 

It wasn't that Kagome hadn't come across demons before. Having lived her whole life in Tokyo it was pretty much impossible not to. She just thought his ears were adorable but reckoned it would be rude to say so.

"I'm Kagome by the way," she followed behind him. "I don't think we've met before."

"No we haven't. I just moved in with my buddy" He took a breath."Inuyasha."

"Your buddy Inuyasha? I don't know hi-"

"No, I'm Inuyasha," he interrupted. "I live with Miroku Hatchi."

"Oh, the mysterious guy!" Kagome laughed and readjusted her bag. Heavy lifting did not mix well with three flights of stairs.

"Mysterious? Oh he wishes. What makes you say that?"

"Me and Sango have lived here for three years and have never seen him. We do get sent his mail every once in a while when the post man is too lazy to go upstairs." Kagome stopped, having reached her floor. "Well, this is me. Thanks again!" She smiled at Inuyasha and went down the corridor, waving slightly as he continued up to the next floor.

 

Kagome sat down in front of her door. At least now she could be a little bit warmer while she waited. All that she could do was hope that Sango wouldn't be kept too long. She went in to her bag and grabbed the closest jotter to the top, hoping to be productive until her roommate returned.

 

"Oh come on!" Kagome's head whipped up. The shout came from the floor above and without a second thought she sprang up the stairs to find the source of the noise. It was Inuyasha. He thumped his fist on his door for good measure.

"Is everything okay?" She asked timidly.

"You!" He growled.

"Me?"

"I came down to let you in and locked myself out of my own damn flat!" He let out an exalted sigh.

"Oh man. I- I'm really sorry." But then she started to laugh.

"You think this is funny?"

"Yeah," she chuckled, "little bit."

"Ungrateful wench." Inuyasha muttered followed by a string of words that Kagome could barely make out but went something along the lines of 'try to do something nice for once' before slumping on to the floor.

"Surely you could just like, uh, break the door?" The look on Inuyasha's face told Kagome that this was the wrong thing to say.

"And pay to get it fixed? Screw that." Inuyasha crossed his legs and sat upright.

"Oh yeah." Kagome flushed, realising how offensive her comment had been. As she stood there shuffling from foot to foot she tried to decide what to do next. She began to turn as Inuyasha ran his hand through his hair. Kagome couldn't quite put her finger on it yet but something about this action made her want to stay.

"Since we are both locked out," Kagome eased herself on to the floor opposite Inuyasha, "might as well be bored together."

"Keh."

 

They sat in an awkward silence for a moment, enough time for Kagome to begin regretting her decision. What are you doing girl? You have no idea who this guy is! Oh god. You better say something quick.

"So -" they began at the same time. The two made eye contact and laughed nervously.

"You first," Kagome smirked.

"How'd you get locked out? Y'know, since you are the reason I'm stuck here." This time however there was a warmth to his comment coupled with a smirk to match Kagome's.

"Well I slept in this morning and I had a million things to do this morning in school, I'm a teacher" she clarified, rubbing her forehead. "and so I dashed off without my keys. Rookie  
mistake."

"A teacher huh?"

"Yup, third grade, 33 kids." She smiled. Kagome was incredibly proud of her class, on days like these where everything seemed to go wrong she could always take solace in the fact she loved her job.

"Wow, that's a lot of kids." Inuyasha remarked, trying to imagine how this tiny woman could possibly be in charge of thirty-three children at one time. Inuyasha smiled for what felt like the hundredth time since meeting Kagome, but something about her presence made the room feel lighter.

"You know it! When report season comes around I'm pretty much MIA for a month." She looked at him, "Don't get me wrong, I love it. So how about you?"

"I'm a researcher. Sengoku Period in particular"

"Wow," Kagome blinked "I don't know what I expected but not that."

"Do you think it's boring?" His tone was jovial but his eyes gave away that he was slightly offended.

"No, not at all!" She waved her hands at him. "I just figured you'd do something more outdoorsy for some reason. I'm normally pretty good at guessing these things."

"Guess there's more to be than meets the eye." 

"Guess so." The two smiled.

 

7:30 rolled around before either of them had noticed it. Too busy chatting about Inuyasha's latest project and Kagome's class. The only reason the thought had struck now was due to the lights flickering for a moment allowing them to see how dark it had become.

"Seriously where the hell is Miroku?" Inuyasha thought out loud.

"Yeah, I thought Sango would be back by now too, she was on the early shift." Kagome stretched her arms out, they had become stiff from sitting in an awkward position for so long. "So... why did you move in with Miroku?"

"I was staying with my brother. It was either move out or become a murderer, I figured I'd go for the former."

"So do you not get on then?"

"Not great. It got worse after I moved in with him. I'd gotten dumped and didn't take it all that well." Inuyasha frowned slightly at the memory which did not go unnoticed by Kagome who had been similarly unlucky in love.

"I feel that. My last relationship ended with me throwing his stuff out of the window." Inuyasha's eyebrows raised slightly, Kagome quickly added "I mean he did cheat on me so I think it balances out."

"Damn, what a douche bag. I'm sorry that happened."

"Ach it's no biggie, it's been three years." Inuyasha turned to face Kagome with an intense look on his face. 

"No, it is a big deal. No one deserves to be cheated on. Especially not kind chicks like you." It had escaped before he could catch himself. Inuyasha flushed at his remark.

"Thanks Inuyasha." Kagome looked away and back again She could barely see the pink tone in his cheeks but the sight of them made her heart flutter. Followed by a tremendous growl. She grabbed her rumbling stomach and laughed.

"God I'm starving." She looked back up at Inuyasha, this time her face reddening."Hey, want to go get dinner? I mean I have a little cash on me and uh..."

"Sounds good!" Inuyasha stood up and offered him arm out Kagome who took it and pulled herself up. She looked around the floor.

"Shit, where's my bag?"

"You didn't take it up."

"Up?" Her eyes widened. She had completely forgotten that she gone upstairs. They descended to the third floor, Kagome's bag no longer sitting outside the door. Kagome tried the handle and it opened. 

"Oops" She thought aloud.

"Where the hell have you been!" Came the thunderous yell from inside. Sango, Kagome's flat mate had clearly stopped mid-pace, her hair looked as though she had been dragging her hands through it and her makeup was slightly smudged. "I have been calling you for hours! I got home and your bag was dumped at the door. I thought you had been kidnapped or something! I already called work to put out an alert on a potential missing person. I swear Kag- oh?" Sango had caught a glimpse of Inuyasha and appeared to be about to continue her scolding so Kagome quickly jumped in.

"I got locked out, Inuyasha here let me into the building and got himself locked out. We decided to wait for our roommates together."

"Speak of the devil," Inuyasha muttered "Hey!" he called, spotting his flat mate coming up the stairs. "Rain check on dinner?" 

"Definitely, you know where to find me!" And with that Inuyasha was off, Kagome shut the door behind him. Her heart was pounding in her chest, probably from the fear of the tirade Sango was about to bring down on her. At least that's what she told herself later.

"Dinner?" Sango raised an eyebrow. Kagome knew that Sango was still pissed off at her but this atmosphere had mellowed considerably. "Maybe you should forget your keys more often."

"Ha ha. It's nothing like that. We have been waiting for hours and were both starving!"

"Sure sure." 

"Seriously! But anyway, guess who his roommate is."

"Who?" Sango asked, not particularly caring who the man lived with.

"That Miroku guy from 4D!" Kagome giggled "Maybe we can finally put a face to the name."

"Huh, here was me thinking that he was a ghost or something." 

"Oh man," Kagomee sighed. "I'm going to run a bath."

"Do not think you are getting off that easily!" Sango called after her but smiled, glad that her friend was home safe.

 

Kagome lay in the tub and smiled. She wondered if she would hear from Inuyasha again.  
She hoped she would.


	2. To Date, Or Not To Date?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it has been forever I know and to be perfectly honest I only got this chapter written because I was procrastinating writing an essay!
> 
> Thanks to simply_zerah, Tsuki7893, and awehellyiss for their kind comments on chapter one!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Inuyasha. All rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi

"Up?" Kagome had asked as a horrified look appeared on her face. She raced down the stairs and Inuyasha stood dumbfounded for a moment _. How stupid is this chick to forget that she wasn't on the same floor as her flat?_ Then he realised he was equally stupid for forgetting that she couldn't have seen her flatmate come home from here and followed after her.

"Where the hell have you been!" Came a thunderous yell from inside the now wide open door of 3D. Inuyasha could see Kagome's flatmate for the first time, looking a bit dishevelled, eyes wild with anxiety. "I have been calling you for hours! I got home and your bag was dumped at the door. I thought you had been kidnapped or something!"  
  
_Okay that is a little dramatic_.  
  
"I already called work to put out an alert on a potential missing person."  
  
_Oh yeah, Kagome had said she was a cop, no wonder she was freaked out she probably hears about people going missing a lot._  
  
"I swear Kag- oh?" Sango had clearly just noticed him stood behind Kagome, which Kagome took advantage of to plead her case.  
  
"I got locked out, Inuyasha here let me into the building and got himself locked out. We decided to wait for our roommates together." Just as Kagome had finished explaining Inuyasha caught a whiff of Miroku's scent ascending the stairs behind them.

"Speak of the devil." He muttered and then called down to Miroku, turned to Kagome and asked "Rain check on dinner?". In the few seconds that elapsed between his question and her answer his brain went through a roller coaster of events-

 _You did not just do that, what the hell is wrong with you?_  
Why would she want to go get dinner with you if she didn't have to?  
What if she says no?  
What if she says yes?  
What if she doesn't say anything?  
What if-

"Definitely, you know where to find me!"

 _Oh thank god!  
_ _Oh fuck._  

Before he had any more time to (over) think, Inuyasha ran to meet Miroku who had just reached the third floor. Miroku did not stop but gave a quizzical look at him and 3D as he continued up to their floor, now followed by Inuyasha.

"Dude what are you doing on the third floor? Did you get lost." He asked his relatively new flat mate.

"No, I met one of your neighbours, bit of an idiot, got locked out and I had to let her in" 

"One of the girls from 3D? The cop or the other one?"

"Kagome, she's a teacher. The cop is called Sango."

"Sango eh? That's a lot of info to glean from letting her into the building."

"Well you knew her flatmate was a cop without ever speaking to her."  
"What can I say, I love a girl in uniform." Miroku half-sang.

"You disgust me," Inuyasha sighed "Anyway, I left my keys in the flat so we ended up both being locked out. Damn Yale lock." 

"And you were calling her stupid? Bit rich man." Miroku whipped out his keys and the two entered the flat, Inuyasha grumbling a 'Keh' as they did so.

 

Inuyasha checked around to ensure that nothing had been left on/open for the past three hours (it hadn't) and grabbed an instant ramen from the cupboard.

 

It was a studio flat, the kitchen and living area being all in one room with a breakfast bar/counter top separating the two. Miroku had thrown himself onto the inherited black leather sofa which was looking a little worse for wear but neither of them particularly minded. The sofa faced the TV on the back wall and had a mismatching armchair either side, forming a large semi circle. One had a small table next to it with a record player on top. The left wall was taken up by an Ikea display case filled with vinyls, dvds and video games. 'Lived in' would be the best descriptor for the state of tidiness, everything was clean but there would always be a couple of dishes next to the sink or discarded items of clothing lying about. The kitchen area was dominated by the large window Inuyasha had been hanging out of to chat to Kagome, it was the only source of natural light in the room and had a small windowsill that ran flush with the counter top. Inuyasha would often squirrel himself away there and watch as people walked in front of the complex, as he had been doing when Kagome was going past.

The kettle began to whir and Inuyasha poured the boiling water into the ramen cup and dug in. While he would normally enjoy this meal with an enthusiasm most people would save for steak it was undercut by the bittersweet taste of not getting to go out to dinner with Kagome. Who was quite possibly the strangest woman he had ever met. And the most intriguing.  
  
"So..." Miroku asked, sitting up to ask the man who had tucked himself into his usual spot at the window.  
  
"So what?" Inuyasha responded, more interested in his meal than a conversation.  
  
"So what about this Kagome girl then? I'm pretty certain I heard you say something about dinner? Though we don't all have demon hearing so I could be mistaken."

"Nothing, we were both hungry." _She sure was pretty though. And funny. And I haven't laughed that much in a long time._  
  
"So not a date?" Miroku tried to sound jovial but there was still a hint of disappointment in his voice.  
  
"Not a date."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

  
"So has he asked you out again yet?" Sango asked, perched on the last stool at the breakfast bar. She sipped her tea as her best friend sat marking pupil's work at her desk in the corner of the living area.  
  
The room had the same basic layout as 4D, though the women used the space differently. Kagome had a 'study' section marked out by a large potted plant beside her work station, while Sango had a punching bag in the adjacent corner. The rest of the living space was taken up by a long white sofa which faced the TV, nestled against the back of their breakfast bar. This way they could keep their bedrooms a work free zone which Kagome had become paranoid about ever since she read an article that said working where you sleep can lead to depression.

   
"Can you stop? First of all, it was not a date, we were both starving from being stuck outside all afternoon. And secondly, I was the one who suggested that we go and have dinner!"  
  
"Ah but HE was the one who called rain check! And as such made it a date!" Sango smirked.  
  
"You know, you really are impossible sometimes!"  
  
The two women had been having the same argument for four days. At first Kagome was just being coy but now that Thursday had rolled around and it seemed that he was not actually interested every time Sango brought it up she became genuinely agitated. She didn't understand why she was this bothered anyway, it really wasn't meant to be a date. She did think he was quite cute . And they did have a fun afternoon together. But maybe that was all it was, a fun story that she could tell her friends about. Everyone loves a bit of self deprecating humour - how silly she was to get locked out and then have forgotten she was on the wrong floor.   
  
Classic Kagome.

She didn't want to dwell on the 'rejection' so was trying to throw herself into work, which Sango was not making easy.

"It doesn't matter," Kagome span to face her flatmate "I am way too busy to be dating anyone right now anyway. All I do is work!"  
  
"Exactly!" Sango cried, "That's why you need to get out more."

Sango could tell she had pushed the point too far. Ever since 'He Who Shall Not Be Named' aka 'Koga the Bastard', Kagome would pull out the same excuse whenever she got close to finding someone new.

"Want me to go upstairs and kick his ass? Because you know I will go up stairs and kick his ass."  
  
"No," Kagome laughed. "I'm going to just choose to look back at that day as a fond memory." She turned back to her marking. "Besides, this way nothing can mess it up. There is no flash forward to a few years from now where we get sick of each other and are fighting all the time so he decides to go out and get drunk constantly and I stay home and cry all night setting up a pattern that will inevitably lead to his cheating on me and our break up and-" There was a snap that stopped her mid rant. Why was her hand sore? She looked down to see she had broken her pen, fragments of which were now stabbing her hand.

Sango jumped out of her stool and grabbed the first aid box. Kagome continued to stare at her hand until Sango picked out the shards of plastic and wrapped it up.  
  
"Tea?" She asked, and the two didn't speak about the handsome hanyou from 4D for the rest of the evening.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

  
Inuyasha was kicking himself.

He had been moping around the flat for days now, muttering under his breath and sighing.  
"You know you've pretty much blown your chance with this girl right?" Miroku stated, fed up of this seemingly endless pining.  
  
"Shut up you letch, who said anything about wanting to date her?"  
  
"No one but you, just now friend." Miroku laughed, enjoying torturing his flat mate.  
  
"Keh."

  
It was true though. Inuyasha had meant to wait a day before messaging Kagome. A day had passed but work had piled up and by the time he had written enough of the paper to justify taking a break to ask out his neighbour he realised that he hadn't asked for her number. And surely if he knocked on her door and asked it would be kind of creepy? Besides, too much time had passed

"God you have such a crush on her."

"Just because I think she is funny and interesting does not mean I have a crush on her. If you had a crush on every woman you called pretty you would have a crush on every woman you ever mention!"  
  
"So you think she's pretty too?"  
  
"You are so aggravating!" Inuyasha shouted and grabbed his coat from the back of the door. "I need a walk." And in one swift movement he put on the red wool coat and slammed the door behind him.  
  
Inuyasha grumbled all the way down the stairs and out the door before almost tripping over his laces. He bent down to tie them and as he stood back up heard the main door open and close softly.  
  
"Oh, hi." Came the familiar voice.  
  
"Uh, hi." He didn't know what to say and could already feel his cheeks threatening to flush. Kagome looked beautiful, how could a person look so beautiful in a coat?  
  
_I mean the black really brings out the dark of her hair I suppose and oh my god what are you thinking?! Say something you idiot._  
  
"So what brings you out this evening?" Inuyasha asked, immediately feeling even more stupid.  
  
"I fancied a walk, It's been a pretty crappy week. You?"  
  
"Same."  
  
They stood in silence for a moment. A long moment. Too long of a moment, neither being able to read what the other was thinking.  
  
  
"Well I better get going then. Good bye Inuyasha." Kagome walked past him and began to head down the trail. 

Inuyasha had a decision to make. Either potentially make a huge ass out of himself or watch her go and truly blow this chance.  
  
"Hey Kagome?" He called. She stopped and turned to face him.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Would you like some company?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The two had been walking along in silence for long enough for Kagome to wonder if she had made a mistake in saying yes. Maybe he just felt guilty?  
_Yeah but he had nothing to feel guilty about. It was not a date._  
Oh shut up already. You wanted it to be a date, stop lying to yourself.  
  
"I, uh" Inuyasha began, "I meant to call you."  
  
"I'm sure you did." Kagome said in a cold tone surprising even to herself.  
  
"I did. And then I realised I didn't get your number and I didn't want to creep you out by just rocking up to your door."

"Oh." Was all that she could manage.

"So, yeah."

  
As they walked they passed a small park with a bench that looked onto the play area with a duck pond nearby.  
  
"My school is near here."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, once I was a couple of years in I would take the scenic route home and feed the ducks here." Inuyasha grinned. He could totally picture her doing that.  
  
"The museum is not overly far. Have you ever been?" The pair had begun to turn in a homeward direction.

"No, I'd love to take the class some day. There is no better way to learn about history, or anything really, than to actually experience it."  
  
"You should organise a field trip. I would happily show you guys around. Maybe even let you see some of the stuff we keep in the back."  
  
"Oh I couldn't-"  
  
"As much as I love my job it can get monotonous I don't often get to give tours, so honestly it would be my pleasure."  
  
"So how often do you give tours then? How do I know I can trust you to give my pupils good enough information?" She cocked her eyebrow at him.  
  
"Often enough. I took my brother's ward around last summer and she loved it. There is even an area where you can dress up in replica clothing and take pictures. She got so excited when she got to put on her kimono."  
  
"That is really adorable!" Kagome smiled and Inuyasha felt his cheeks pinken.  
  
"So yeah I know plenty. And I'd make sure that Miroku wasn't working or he'd scare the children. He likes to pretend he's got a cursed hole in his hand that sucks up naughty children."  
  
"I'll have to use that one the next time my class misbehaves."

  
Before they knew it the two of them were back where they started. Kagome triumphantly pulled out her keys and opened the door with a flourish.  
"Check you, remembering your keys!" Inuyasha gasped.  
  
"Ha, ha." Kagome said drily and the two ascended the stairs until they reached Kagome's landing.  
  
"Give me your phone."  
  
"Huh?" He said but handed in over anyway. Kagome typed something in and then handed it back to him.  
  
"No excuses next time." She turned and walked to her door, "I'll see you around Inuyasha."  
  
"See you around."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope this chapter was worth the wait!

**Author's Note:**

> And I hope you folks enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> I am Scottish btw so if I used any weird idioms or you'd prefer me to make the following chapters a little more neutral on words or phrases used feel free to say :)


End file.
